Arutz 7 Analysts

SLAPP suits are anti-democratic harassment suits in which people are sued for “libel” to prevent them from expressing criticism. They are a favorite tactic of the radical Left, which uses them to make sure that non-Leftists are silenced. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation. SLAPP suits are illegal in much of the United States but are a growing pastime for Israeli leftists.

YNET has now reported that Yuli Tamir, Israel’s education czarina, has filed such a SLAPP suit against Channel 10 TV. She was upset because Channel 10 broadcast a news story that Tamir had ordered Ze’ev Jabotinsky removed from the Israeli school curriculum. Jabotinsky was the founder of the “Revisionist Zionist Party” in the 1920s and MAPAI bolsheviks have never gotten over that. Ben Gurion had refused even to allow Jabotinsky’s remains to be moved to Israel.

According to YNET News, “Tamir filed a NIS 500,000 (approx. $145,000) suit against Reudor Benziman, CEO of Channel 10 Tali Ben Ovadia, the editor of the channel's 8 o'clock news broadcast, and Ran Lior, one of the channel's reporters, citing slander and defamation of character.... A Channel 10 News statement said that the network stands by the report and its content, and respects Tamir's fundamental right to have the matter cleared in court. “ Now in libel suits, one is supposed to be prohibited from filing unless one can demonstrate that one was caused provable material damages. Just what were the material damages Tamir suffered due to this report. which was evidently factually correct?

Now SLAPP suits are more common than you might have thought. It turns out both Professor Zeev Sternhell and myself have been victimized by anti-democratic neo-fascists filing them against us. In Sternhell case, he was successfully sued in France for “libel” by a French anti-Semite named Bertrand de Jouvenel. I myself was sued by the Israeli anti-democratic anti-Semite Neve Gordon for “libel” because I criticized his political writings and activities. That case, in which I was largely victorious on appeal in the Nazareth regional court, is now on the docket at the Israeli Supreme Court to finish off SLAPP suits in Israel altogether.

I wonder if Sternhell will be pleased to discover how much he has in common with me.